Thursday, August 8, 2013

It is Friday evening. You are in a restaurant. You had nice full course dinner with soup, main course, followed by dessert. You checked the prices before and ordered. However, when the bill came, you were little shocked. The numbers did not match till you came across few items called service tax and service charge which inflated the bill by about 15% to 20%. Since this is Friday evening and you have been waiting for this for the whole week, you don’t question it and pay. We have all faced this situation in fine dining and not so fine dining restaurant. Almost all of us agree that the extra cost is high but none of us know the charges and taxes included in bill.

A simple thing made complicated

We have an uncanny ability to screw simple things and make it complex. Taxes and charges on seemingly simple stuffs like food and drinks are one such thing where customers are taken for granted. Let’s understand few terms that we see on our food bill often but do not understand.

Service charge

This is charged by the restaurant for the services rendered to you. This money goes to the restaurant. The establishments are free to charge any amount as service charges as there are no guidelines provided by the tax authority. The charge varies from 5% to 10%. Few restaurants don’t charge it. This is equivalent to the tips people usually give to waiters. If you are charged service charge in the bill, don’t pay tips as this charge is supposed to be shared among the staff.

Most of us don’t bother about it even when we feel the charges are higher. One reason is that we don’t think anything can be done about it. Secondly, we don’t want to spoil our evening because of this and argue with restaurant manager. However, the ground rule is that if the menu mentions service charges, you have to pay. If it doesn’t, you can question it.

Service tax

Many people confuse service tax with service charges. Service tax is the tax levied by the Government on the services rendered by restaurants. Service tax is same in all states. It is 12.36% on the 40% of the bill. The bill includes your food and drink and the service charge. The restaurant must be air-conditioned for the service tax. The problem here is that most of the customers are taxed at the full bill and not on the 40% of the bill as directed.

To make things simple, service tax should be 40% * 12.36% = 4.94% on the total bill. Hence whenever you see service tax on the total bill exceeding about 5%, you can question it.

VAT (Value Added Tax)

There is another tax called VAT (value added tax) that is state specific. The rates can be as low as 5% and as high as 20% depending upon the states. Moreover, VAT for food items and drink are different. Many restaurants might club food items and drink and charge a flat rate on the total bill. In such cases, it is good to ask for separate bills for food and drinks. This should clearly show the different VAT for both the items. (To understand VAT better, click here)

Example

Let’s see how service charge, tax and VAT work with an example. Suppose you have dined in an AC restaurant and the price of food items is summed to Rs 900. You will be asked to pay service charges (goes to the restaurant) and VAT and service tax (goes to Government)

Items

Amount

Bill of food item

900

Service charge (assuming 6%)

54

Sun Total

954

Service tax to be levied on (40% of sub-total)

381.6

Service tax (at the rate of 12.36%)

47.16576

VAT @ 12.5% of the sub-total

119.25

Total amount to be paid

1120.416

Many times, restaurants charge the highest rate on the total bill. This is general complaint by almost all the customers.

Conclusion

Most of the times, we cannot do anything about overcharging. The reasons are not only our unwillingness but also the ignorance of restaurant managers. In many cases though, you can question these items and get your bill corrected. Please remember that this will not be easy. However, you can always question and explain this to the restaurant manager and get your bill corrected. There have been cases where customers were able to reduce their bill.

Ashes 2013: Watch video of 1948 Ashes series

It's a world away from Hot Spot, DRS and Snicko (and probably none the worse for that) but this video shows a glimpse of how televised cricket might have looked in 1948.

This recently unearthed British Council documentary provides a snapshot of English cricket over 60 years ago. Narrated by Sir Ralph Richardson and the great BBC commentator John Arlott, it shows beautiful footage of Test cricket and the theatre surrounding it, as well as the more humble cricket on the village green.

There is some splendid slow-motion footage of the Lord's Test of 1948, featuring such legends of the game as Sir Don Bradman, Sir Len Hutton, Denis Compton and Keith Miller.

The Pathe documentary footage is also very strong on the crowd, the sense of occasion of a Lord's Test that remains every bit as much of a national event today as it did in Sir Don's last Ashes tour of England.

You may know Kareena, Katrina, Madhuri and Sridevi, but I can confidently say that 95% of Indians would not know this brave lady.Neerja Bhanot was the senior flight purser on the ill-fated Pan Am Flight 73, hijacked by four heavily armed terrorists after it landed at Karachi at 5 am from Mumbai. PA 73 was en route to Frankfurt and onward to New York City. Neerja alerted the cockpit crew about the hijack and, as the plane was on the tarmac, the three-member cockpit crew of pilot, co-pilot and the flight engineer were able to flee from the aircraft. Neerja, being the most senior cabin crew member on board, took charge.The hijackers were part of the Palestinian Abu Nidal terrorist organization and were backed by Libya. They immediately shot dead a passenger who identified himself to the terrorists as being an American. The terrorists then instructed Neerja to get the passports collected of all the passengers, so that they could identify the Americans. Neerja, and the other attendants under her charge, hid the passports of the 40 Americans on board.

After 17 hours, the hijackers opened fire and set off explosives. Neerja opened the emergency door and helped a number of passengers escape. She did not herself escape, and became a martyr while shielding 3 children from a hail of bullets. Neerja was recognised internationally as “the heroine of the hijack” and is the youngest recipient of the Ashoka Chakra, India’s highest civilian award for bravery.

A square called Neerja Bhanot Chowk is named after her in Mumbai’s Ghatkopar (East) suburb by the Mumbai Municipal Corporation, which was inaugurated by Amitabh Bachchan in the early 90′s.

No words to express! Great persons like her create confidence in us that there is no dearth of good and noble-minded people even in this Kaliyug. We can only pray for her.Devarajan MK

August 2, 2013 at 9:39 PM

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Like every normal girl, I was excited about marriage right from my childhood days. I never thought beyond the time that I would spend happily with my prince charming. But today when I am married, I realize that marriage is not all roses. It’s not just about being with your beloved and having a gala time. There is so much more to it. It comes with its own share of responsibilities, duties, sacrifices and compromises. I can’t wake up anytime I want to. I am expected to be up and ready before everyone else in the family. I can’t laze around in my pyjamas throughout the day. I am expected to be presentable every time. I can’t just go out anytime I want to. I am expected to be sensitive to the needs of the family. I just can’t hit the bed anytime I want to. I am expected to be active and around the family. I can’t expect to be treated like a princess but am supposed to take care of everyone else in the family. And then I think to myself, ‘why did I get married at all?’ I was happier with you, mom. Sometimes I think of coming back to you and getting pampered again. I want to come home to my favorite food cooked by you every evening after a nice outing with friends. I want to sleep on your laps like I have no worry in this world. But then I suddenly realize, had you not got married and made such sacrifices in your life, I wouldn’t have had so many wonderful memories to hang on to. And suddenly, the purpose of all this becomes clear- to return the same comfort, peace and happiness to my new family that I got from you. And I am sure that as time would pass, I would start loving this life equally as you do. Thank you mom for all the sacrifices and compromises you made. They give me the strength to do the same. Love you.from the face book of "I love my India"